Sony HT-A5000 Sound Bar Review: Feature-Rich And Packing Power
Duane Beckett
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The Sony HT-A5000 soundbar is the brand’s most powerful soundbar, offering the deepest and most lifelike audio on the market:
The soundbar feels high-end, with an elegant design and solid construction. However, it’s the sound bar’s ability to produce clear sound up to 100 dB with deep bass at 50 Hz that stands out.
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It’s priced at just under $800 on Amazon, but is it worth the money? Let’s find out:
Features Include:
- The soundbar supports Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Vertical Surround Engine, S-Force Pro Front Surround, and 360 Spatial Sound Mapping
- With 360 Spatial Sound, the audio adapts to your environment.
- Compatible with 4k 120Hz or 8k game-play.
- Handles Hi-Resolution Audio perfectly.
- Comes in several speaker configurations, including two subwoofer and rear speaker sets.
Design
- The Sony HT-A5000 is an omnidirectional soundbar with a sleek design. It’s mainly made of plastic, but there are metal grilles over the up-firing drivers on top of the bar.
- Surprisingly, it’s one way that the device differs from other bars, which tend to be made entirely or partially of glass or fabric. The speaker also has rounded edges, unlike other soundbars that tend to be rectangular and square-shaped.
- The Sony HT-A5000 comes in a black color scheme, and will most likely complement your home cinema setup no matter what type of interior décor you have.
- The soundbar is 37.17 x 6.58 x 6.14 inches and weighs 13.45 pounds.
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Sound Performance
The Sony HT-A5000 produces high-end audio:
- For home entertainment enthusiasts, the default stereo sound mode does a commendable job with an impressive degree of clarity, without sounding at all forced or artificial.
- In contrast, if you opt to keep the ‘Sound Field’ function off (which is the default method on most televisions), then you get crisp and uncluttered dialog within natural-sounding cinematic effects. It adds warmth and depth to voices, while also having some well-defined bass notes that complement the soundtrack.
- Plus, music from the soundbar is immersive and pops regardless of genre. It’s a time-tested approach for those who would rather have their audio signal in stereo, without any additional digital processing added to it.
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Vertical Surround Engine
- The Vertical Surround Engine audio technology supports formats such as DTS: X and Dolby Atmos. This type of speaker system combines the sound reproduction of the front speakers and two upward-firing speakers to bring a surround sound angle to your viewing experience.
- And amazingly, you don’t need to add extra speakers (although that is an option). This is because the audio bounces around the room, including the ceiling. All of which create a true surround sound experience.
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DSEE Extreme
- Music lovers will be happy to learn about the DSEE Extreme feature. A feature that upscales highly compressed sound sources, such as MP3.
- It works in real-time, analyzing music as it’s played and bringing high-frequency audio ranges back to file formats that were previously compressed.
- Also, music aficionados may be interested in knowing High-Resolution Audio support is included here, along with the Sony 360 Reality Audio mode via Amazon Music HD.
Connectivity
- The Sony HT-A5000 soundbar comes with an impressive selection of the latest audio connectivity options that make streaming music from other devices to the soundbar simple, intuitive, and highly convenient:
- This includes Bluetooth, HDMI 2.1, Wi-Fi, Chromecast, Spotify Connect, and Apple AirPlay 2, plus much more. Effectively the Sony HT-A5000 will let you stream or play music from virtually any modern device.
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Expandability
The Sony HT-A5000 speaker system can be supplemented with a set of wireless subwoofers or rear speakers. Lastly, its SA-SW3 subwoofer boasts 200 Watts of power and comes with a 6-inch speaker.
Pros
- The soundbar has power, giving weight to every footstep, car chase, or orchestral note.
- Every detail is audible, offering tremendous detail along with the oomph.
- It looks and feels expensive compared to other similarly priced soundbars.
- You can connect it to practically anything straight out of the box, without any hassle.
- Old compressed file formats are given a new lease of life with the DSEE feature.
Cons
- It costs almost $800.
- It might not fit well below the most common-sized 55-inch TV.
If money is no limitation and you love fantastic audio, the Sony HT-A5000 Soundbar is definitely Nerdable Recommended.